Visual search is just one of the many growing trends in today’s marketing world. It’s expected to be one of the number one ways consumers will search for certain products online. The global recognition market is actually expected to reach over 39 billion by 2025.
Visual search makes it easier and faster for consumers to buy your products. Not to mention you may be able to reach a larger portion of your target audience.
Here is a breakdown of what visual search actually is and how you can use it to benefit your business.
What is Visual Search?
Visual search technology allows consumers to search for something online with an image, rather than keywords. Of course, this type of search wouldn’t work for any industry. If you’re looking for a dentist, contractor, or publisher near you, it’s definitely best to just type it in. However, when it comes to things like fashion or home decor, this technology becomes your best friend.
Imagine you have an article of clothing you love, but you just can’t pinpoint the style. You could just put a photo into the search and the website would find similar styles of clothing.
Companies Who Use Visual Search Features
Pinterest has become extremely successful over the years with this technology. Referred to as the Pinterest Lens you’re able to upload a photo and receive a plethora of related results. There are an estimated 600 million visual searches done on Pinterest just each month.
Google, Amazon, and Bing also use these search features.
How Will Visual Search Help My Business?
Visual search is quickly gaining popularity for eCommerce sites and this is a train you definitely want to hop on. When you implement visual search features into your website you can enhance user experience with faster results and reach younger generations that may have previously been out of your reach.
Enhance User Experience
In a study conducted by HubSpot, consumers who conducted a text-based search took over two minutes to find their desired product vs. just 27 seconds for a visual search. That extra time will truly make or break the success of your website.
With the help of visual search, your company won’t be held back by a poor user experience. You’re able to give consumers exactly what they need and you’re making it fast. People will always value convenience.
Reach A Larger Target Audience
If you aren’t appealing to the millennial or Gen Z audience then visual search options could be your “in”. It’s estimated around 60% of Millennial and Gen Z users prefer visual searches compared to other old technology.
By extending your reach to these younger generations you’re opening the door for a lot more website traffic. Which as we all know, will in turn increase sales.
Make Your Images SEO ready
Tagging images can become laborious, not to mention anyone could add different tags to the same photo. Luckily, the technology for visual search features deep tagging. This feature will automatically tag your photos and make them easy to interpret by search engines.
You can work smarter rather than harder because we know SEO is a lot to pull off. It’s extremely time-consuming and a lot of complex parts work together all at once. Visual search can take some of the stress off of your shoulders by making images SEO ready.
Avoid Falling Behind Competitors
The CEO of Pinterest stated that the future of search will be pictures rather than keywords. Get ahead of competitors by implementing visual search into your website as soon as possible. If a consumer really enjoyed their experience using an image search on another website, they will compare it to their experience on traditional sites.
So if you’re website can’t compare to the great experience on another website you’re falling behind. Be a part of the community that’s now taking advantage of these advanced features with the help of our team at Strategic Media Inc. As the experts, we can help you stay ahead, and take advantage of these new digital marketing trends.
Final Takeaways
As marketers, we understand that we have to constantly adapt to new technology. There will always be a way to enhance user experience, and those who want to keep up with the trends will.
While visual search is still relatively new and we don’t know exactly what it will grow into, it’s definitely something you want to take advantage of. Of course, the text-based search will always be around but if your marketing plan will benefit from visual search it will definitely be worth it.
Contact us online or give us a call at 727-531-7622 for any questions about visual search and how we can incorporate this new technology into your website.